Louis Blériot's first flight across the Channel recreated 100 years on - Telegraph France Louis Blériot's first flight across the Channel recreated 100 years on It was 100 years ago that Frenchman Louis Blériot became the first man to fly across the Channel. Louis Blériot Photo: Hulton Archive By Henry Samuel in Paris 5:04PM BST 24 Jul 2009 The mustachioed aviation enthusiast and inventor was one of three pilots to respond to a public challenge to become the first man to achieve the feat. The British newspaper magnate Lord Northcliffe had offered a prize of £1,000 to the first person to make the flight in either direction. But his two competitors – Hubert Lartham, a Franco-British sportsman, and Charles de Lambert, a Russian aristocrat– both failed leaving Mr Blériot, 37, to claim the title and the money. On Saturday, an original "Blériot XI" aircraft will lead an armada of microlights across the 22 miles from Calais to Dover to mark the 100th anniversary of the occasion.

The two towns are hosting a weekend of festivities to remember the achievement, which was a key moment in flying history and helped convince a sceptical public that the future lay in the air. Mr Blériot set out from Les Baraques – a neighbourhood of southern Calais since renamed Blériot-Plage – and spent 37 minutes in the air before touching down in a field below Dover Castle, smashing his propeller and undercarriage. He was later given a hero's welcome back in Paris. Today's repetition of the feat will be led off by Mikael Carlson, a Swedish enthusiast who owns two original Blériot XIs. The aircraft went into mass production after the Channel feat showed its potential. He will be followed by three replica aircraft, and then some 300 hundred microlights. The British and French air force display teams will also pay a tribute. "The aircraft is made mostly of ash, braced together with piano wires," said Mr Carlson, a commercial airline pilot. "But it is an incredibly modern design. If you disregard the fact that the fuselage is open, it is exactly like a modern aircraft such as a microlight.

"And the way it is flown and controlled is exactly like a modern aircraft, with the stick and pedals." The celebrations will be attended by Mr Blériot's grandson – also called Louis – who described his grandfather's achievement as a "turning-point in history." Mr Blériot went on to head a successful plane-making company with interests in Britain and France. It is hoped there will be no repeat of a 1989 attempt to make the same crossing in an original Blériot, which ended in the plane crashing into the sea. Famous Firsts in Aviation Famous Firsts in Aviation Virgin Atlantic's Globalflyer 1783 First balloon flight. Jacques and Joseph Montgolfier of Annonay, France, sent up a small smoke-filled balloon about mid-November. First hydrogen-filled balloon flight. Jacques A. C. Charles, Paris physicist, supervised construction by A. J. and M. N. Robert of a 13-foot-diameter balloon that was filled with hydrogen. It got up to about 3,000 ft and traveled about 16 mi in a 45-minute flight (Aug. 27). First human balloon flights.

A Frenchman, Jean Pilâtre de Rozier, made the first captive-balloon ascension (Oct. 15). With the Marquis d'Arlandes, Pilâtre de Rozier made the first free flight, reaching a peak altitude of about 500 ft, and traveling about 51/2 mi in 20 min. (Nov. 21). 1784 First powered balloon. Gen. Jean Baptiste Marie Meusnier developed the first propeller-driven and elliptically shaped balloon—the crew cranking three propellers on a common shaft to give the craft a speed of about 3 mph. First balloon flight by a woman. Mme. Thible, a French opera singer (June 4). 1793 First balloon flight in America. Jean Pierre Blanchard, a French pilot, made it from Philadelphia to near Woodbury, N.J., in just over 45 min. (Jan. 9). 1794 First military use of the balloon. Jean Marie Coutelle, using a balloon built for the French Army, made two 4-hour observation ascents. The military purpose of the ascents seems to have been to damage the enemy's morale.

1797 First parachute jump. André-Jacques Garnerin dropped from about 6,500 ft over Monceau Park in Paris in a 23-foot-diameter parachute made of white canvas with a basket attached (Oct. 22). 1843 First air transport company. In London, William S. Henson and John Stringfellow filed articles of incorporation for the Aerial Transit Company (March 24). It failed. 1852 First dirigible. Henri Giffard, a French engineer, flew in a controllable (more or less) steam-engine-powered balloon, 144 ft long and 39 ft in diameter, inflated with 88,000 cu ft of coal gas. It reached 6.7 mph on a flight from Paris to Trappe (Sept. 24). 1860 First aerial photographers. Samuel Archer King and William Black made two photos of Boston, which are still in existence. 1872 First gas-engine-powered dirigible.

Paul Haenlein, a German engineer, flew in a semi-rigid-frame dirigible, powered by a 4-cylinder internal-combustion engine running on coal gas drawn from the supporting bag. 1873 First transatlantic attempt. The New York Daily Graphic sponsored the attempt with a 400,000-cubic-foot balloon carrying a lifeboat. A rip in the bag during inflation brought the collapse of the balloon and the project. 1897 First successful metal dirigible. An all-metal dirigible, designed by David Schwarz, a Hungarian, took off from Berlin's Tempelhof Field and, powered by a 16-horsepower Daimler engine, got several miles before leaking gas caused it to crash (Nov. 13). 1900 First zeppelin flight. Germany's Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin flew the first of his long series of rigid-frame airships. It attained a speed of 18 mph and got 31/2 mi before its steering gear failed (July 2). 1903 First successful heavier-than-air machine flight.

Aviation was really born on the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk, N.C., when Orville Wright crawled to his prone position between the wings of the biplane he and his brother Wilbur had built, opened the throttle of their homemade 12-horsepower engine, and took to the air. He covered 120 ft in 12 sec. Later that day, in one of four flights, Wilbur stayed up 59 sec. and covered 852 ft (Dec. 17). 1904 First airplane maneuvers. Orville Wright made the first turn with an airplane (Sept. 15); five days later his brother Wilbur made the first complete circle. 1905 First airplane flight over half an hour. Orville Wright kept his craft up 33 min., 17 sec. (Oct. 4). 1906 First European airplane flight. Alberto Santos-Dumont , a Brazilian, flew a heavier-than-air machine at Bagatelle Field, Paris (Sept. 13). 1908 First airplane fatality. Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge, U.S. Army Signal Corps, was in a group evaluating the Wright plane at Fort Myer, Va.

He was up 75 ft with Orville Wright when the propeller hit a bracing wire and was broken, throwing the plane out of control, killing Selfridge and seriously injuring Wright (Sept. 17). 1909 First cross-Channel flight. Louis Blériot flew in a 25-horsepower Blériot VI monoplane from Les Baraques near Calais, France, to Dover Castle, England, in a 26.61-mi (38-kilometer) 37-min. flight across the English Channel (July 25). First International Aviation Competition Meeting. American Glenn Curtiss narrowly beat France's Louis Blériot in the main event and won the Gordon Bennett Cup. Meet held at Rheims, France (Aug. 22–28). 1910 First licensed woman pilot. Baroness Raymonde de la Roche of France, who learned to fly in 1909, received ticket No. 36 on March 8. First flight from shipboard. Lt. Eugene Ely, USN, took a Curtiss plane off from the deck of the cruiser Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Va., and flew to Norfolk (Nov.

14). The following January he reversed the process, flying from Camp Selfridge to the deck of the armored cruiser Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay (Jan. 18). First aircraft to take off from water. Henri Fabre in a Gnome-powered floatplane, at Martigues, France (March 28). 1911 First U.S. woman pilot. Harriet Quimby , a magazine writer, got ticket No. 37, making her the first licensed American female pilot. 1912 First woman's cross-Channel flight. Harriet Quimby flew from Dover, England, across the English Channel and landed at Hardelot, France, in a Blériot monoplane loaned to her by Louis Blériot (April 16). She was later killed in a flying accident over Dorchester Bay during a Harvard-Boston aviation meet on July 1, 1912. First parachute jump from a powered airplane. Albert Berry jumped in a test over Jefferson Barracks military post, St. Louis (March 1). Some sources credit Grant Morton as making first jump in 1911. 1913 First multi-engined aircraft.

Built and flown by Igor Ivan Sikorsky while still in his native Russia. 1914 First aerial combat. In Aug., Allied and German pilots and observers started shooting at each other with pistols and rifles—with negligible results. 1915 First air raids on England. German zeppelins dropped bombs on four English communities (Jan. 19). 1917 World's first black combat pilot. Georgia-born Eugene Jacques Bullard , denied entry into the U.S. Army Air Corps because of his race, served throughout World War I in the French Flying Corps. He received the Legion of Honor, France's highest honor, among many other decorations. 1918 First U.S. air squadron. The U.S. Army Air Corps made its first independent raids over enemy lines, in DH-4 planes (British-designed) powered with 400-hp American-designed Liberty engines (April 8). First regular airmail service. Operated for the Post Office Department by the Army, the first regular service was inaugurated with one round trip a day (except Sunday) between Washington, DC, and New York City (May 15). 1919 First transatlantic flight.

The NC-4, one of four Curtiss flying boats commanded by Lt. Comdr. Albert C. Read, reached Lisbon, Portugal (May 27), after hops from Trepassy Bay, Newfoundland, to Horta, Azores (May 16–17), to Ponta Delgada (May 20). The Liberty-powered craft was piloted by Walter Hinton. First nonstop transatlantic flight. Capt. John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Whitten Brown, British World War I flyers, made the 1,900-mile trip from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland, in 16 hr., 12 min. in a Vickers-Vimy bomber with two 350-horsepower Rolls-Royce engines (June 15–16). First lighter-than-air transatlantic flight. The British dirigible R-34, commanded by Maj. George H. Scott, left Firth of Forth, Scotland (July 2), and touched down at Mineola, L.I., 108 hr. later. The eastbound trip was made in 75 hr. (completed July 13).

First scheduled London–Paris passenger service (using airplanes). Aircraft Travel and Transport inaugurated London–Paris service (Aug. 25). Later the company started the first trans-Channel mail service on the same route (Nov. 10). First free-fall parachute jump. Leslie Irvin jumped over McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, to prove that one wouldn't lose consciousness during a delayed free-fall using a manually operated parachute (April 28). 1921 First U.S. black female pilot. Bessie Coleman received license June 15. She was killed April 30, 1926, in a flying accident. First naval vessel sunk by aircraft. Two battleships being scrapped by treaty were sunk by bombs dropped from Army planes in demonstration put on by Brig. Gen. William S. Mitchell (July 21). First helium balloon. The C-7, nonrigid Navy dirigible was first to use noninflammable helium as lifting gas, making a flight from Hampton Roads, Va., to Washington, D.C. (Dec. 1). 1922 First member of Caterpillar Club. Lt. (later Maj.

Gen.) Harold Harris bailed out of a crippled plane he was testing at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio (Oct. 20), and became the first man to join the Caterpillar Club—those whose lives have been saved by parachutes. 1923 First nonstop transcontinental flight. Lts. John A. Macready and Oakley Kelly flew a single-engine Fokker T-2 nonstop from New York to San Diego, a distance of just over 2,500 mi in 26 hr., 50 min. (May 2–3). First autogyro flight. Juan de la Cierva, a brilliant Spanish mathematician, made the first successful flight in a rotary wing aircraft in Madrid (June 9). 1924 First round-the-world flight. Four Douglas Cruiser biplanes of the U.S. Army Air Corps took off from Seattle under command of Maj. Frederick Martin (April 6). 175 days later, two of the planes (Lt. Lowell Smith's and Lt. Erik Nelson's) landed in Seattle after a circuitous route—one source saying 26,345 mi, another saying 27,553 mi.

1926 First polar flight. Then–Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd , acting as navigator, and Floyd Bennett as pilot, flew a Trimotor Fokker from Kings Bay, Spitsbergen, over the North Pole and back in 151/2 hr. (May 8–9). 1927 First solo nonstop transatlantic flight. Charles Augustus Lindbergh lifted his Wright-powered Ryan monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, from Roosevelt Field, N.Y., to stay aloft 33 hr. 39 min. and travel 3,600 mi to Le Bourget Field outside Paris (May 20–21). Although 91 persons in 13 separate flights crossed the Atlantic before him, he flew directly between two great world cities and did it alone. First transatlantic passenger. Charles A. Levine was piloted by Clarence D. Chamberlin from Roosevelt Field, N.Y., to Eisleben, Germany, in a Wright-powered Bellanca (June 4–5). 1928 First east–west transatlantic crossing. Baron Guenther von Huenefeld, piloted by German Capt.

Hermann Koehl and Irish Capt. James Fitzmaurice, left Dublin for New York City (April 12) in a single-engine all-metal Junkersmonoplane. Some 37 hr. later, they crashed on Greely Island, Labrador and were rescued. First transarctic flight. Sir Hubert Wilkins, an Australian explorer, and Carl Ben Eielson, who served as pilot, flew from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Spitsbergen (mid-April). First U.S.–Australia flight. Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith and Capt. Charles T. P. Ulm, Australians, and two American navigators, Harry W. Lyon and James Warner, crossed the Pacific from Oakland to Brisbane. They went via Hawaii and the Fiji Islands in a trimotor Fokker (May 31–June 8). 1929 First of the endurance records. With Air Corps Maj. Carl Spaatz in command and Capt. Ira Eaker as chief pilot, an Army Fokker, aided by refueling in the air, remained aloft 150 hr. 40 min. at Los Angeles (Jan. 1–7). First round-the-world airship flight.

The LZ-127, known as the Graf Zeppelin, flew 21,300 mi in 20 days and 4 hr. Also set distance record (Aug.). First blind flight. James H. Doolittle proved the feasibility of instrument-guided flying when he took off and landed entirely on instruments (Sept. 24). First rocket-engine flight. Fritz von Opel, a German auto maker, stayed aloft in his small rocket-powered craft for 75 sec., covering nearly 2 mi (Sept. 30). First South Pole flight. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd, with Bernt Balchen as pilot, Harold I. June, radio operator, and Capt. A. C. McKinley, photographer, flew a trimotor Fokker from the Bay of Whales, Little America, over the South Pole and back (Nov. 28–29). 1930 First Paris–New York nonstop flight. Dieudonné Costes and Maurice Bellonte, French pilots, flew a Hispano-powered Breguet biplane from Le Bourget Field to Valley Stream, L.I., in 37 hr., 18 min. (Sept. 2–3).

1931 First flight into the stratosphere. Auguste Piccard , a Swiss physicist, and Charles Knipfer ascended in a balloon from Augsburg, Germany, and reached a height of 51,793 ft in a 17-hr. flight that terminated on a glacier near Innsbruck, Austria (May 27). First nonstop transpacific flight. Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn took off from Sabishiro Beach, Japan, dropped their landing gear, and flew 4,860 mi to near Wenatchee, Wash., in 41 hr. 13 min. (Oct. 4–5). 1932 First woman's transatlantic solo. Amelia Earhart , flying a Pratt & Whitney Wasp-powered Lockheed Vega, flew alone from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Ireland in approximately 15 hr. (May 20–21). First westbound transatlantic solo. James A. Mollison, a British pilot, took a de Havilland Puss Moth from Portmarnock, Ireland, to Pennfield, New Brunswick (Aug. 18). First woman airline pilot.

Ruth Rowland Nichols, first woman to hold three international records at the same time—speed, distance, and altitude—was employed by N.Y.–New England Airways. 1933 First round-the-world solo. Wiley Post took a Lockheed Vega, Winnie Mae, 15,596 mi around the world in 7 days, 18 hr., 491/2 min. (July 15–22). 1936 First west-east transatlantic solo flight.. Beryl Markham flew a single-engine Vega Gull from London to Nova Scotia in 21 hrs, 25 min. (Sept. 4–5). 1937 First successful helicopter flight. Hanna Reitsch, a German pilot, flew Dr. Heinrich Focke's FW-61 in free, fully controlled flight at Bremen (July 4). Ms. Reitsch was also the first woman civil and military aviation test pilot. First woman known to fly combat. Sabiha Gokcen, Turkish female army pilot, bombed and strafed Kurdish tribesmen during a rebellion. 1939 First turbojet flight.

Just before their invasion of Poland, the Germans flew a Heinkel He-178 plane powered by a Heinkel S3B turbojet (Aug. 27). 1940 First wartime use of military gliders. German commandos made a successful glider assault on Belgium's Fort Eben-Emael during WWII (May 10). 1941 The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) creates the Canadian Women's Auxillary Air Force. The RCAF is the first branch of the Canadian military to accept women. 1941–1945 Most combat missions flown by a pilot in any war. Captain Hans-Ulrich Rudel of Germany flew 2,530 combat missions during WWII while flying a JU-87 Stuka dive bomber. He survived the war. 1942–1945 Top-scoring fighter pilot of any war. German Luftwaffe ace Maj. Erich Hartmann scored 352 victories all while flying a Messerschmitt BF 109 during WWII. He was involved in 800 dogfights, and flew 1,425 missions. Maj. Hartmann survived the war.

1942 First enemy bombing of U.S. mainland. During WWII, a floatplane launched from a Japanese submarine off Cape Blanco, Ore., dropped incendiary bombs on the Oregon forest in two attempts to start forest fires and terrorize American civilians, but the bombs did little damage (Sept. 9 and 29). First woman fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft. Soviet Lieutenant Lilya Litvyak, flying a Yak-1 fighter of the women's 586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, shot down two German planes over Stalingrad (Sept. 13). First American jet plane flight. Robert Stanley, chief pilot for Bell Aircraft Corp., flew the Bell XP-59 Airacomet at Muroc Army Base, Calif. (Oct. 1). 1944 First production stage rocket-engine fighter plane. The German Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet (test flown 1941) became operational in June 1944. Some 350 of these delta-wing fighters were built before WWII in Europe ended. 1947 First piloted supersonic flight in an airplane. Capt. Charles E. Yeager , U.S.

Air Force, flew the X-1 rocket-powered research plane built by Bell Aircraft Corp., faster than the speed of sound at Muroc Air Force Base, Calif. (Oct. 14). 1949 First round-the-world nonstop flight. Capt. James Gallagher and USAF crew of 13 flew a Boeing B-50A Superfortress around the world nonstop from Ft. Worth, returning to same point: 23,452 mi in 94 hr., 1 min., with four aerial refuelings en route (Feb. 27–March 2). 1950 First nonstop transatlantic jet flight. Col. David C. Schilling (USAF) flew 3,300 mi from England to Limestone, Maine, in 10 hr., 1 min. (Sept. 22). 1951 First solo across North Pole. Charles F. Blair, Jr., flew a converted P-51 (May 29). 1952 First jetliner service. The De Havilland Comet flight was inaugurated by BOAC between London and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Flight, including stops, took 23 hr., 38 min. (May 2). First transatlantic helicopter flight. Capt. Vincent H. McGovern and 1st Lt. Harold W. Moore piloted two Sikorsky H-19s from Westover, Mass., to Prestwick, Scotland (3,410 mi). Trip was made in five stops, with a flying time of 42 hr., 25 min. (July 15–31). First transatlantic round trip in same day. A British Canberra twin-jet bomber flew from Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, to Gander, Newfoundland, and back in 7 hr., 59 min. flying time (Aug. 26). 1955 First transcontinental round trip in same day. Lt. John M. Conroy piloted an F-86 Sabrejet across U.S. (Los Angeles–New York) and back—5,085 mi—in 11 hr., 33 min., 27 sec. (May 21). 1957 First round-the-world nonstop jet plane flight. Maj. Gen.

Archie J. Old, Jr., USAF, led a flight of three Boeing B-52 bombers, powered with eight 10,000-pound-thrust Pratt & Whitney Aircraft J57 engines around the world in 45 hr., 19 min; distance 24,325 mi; average speed 525 mph (completed Jan. 18). 1958 First transatlantic jet passenger service. BOAC, New York to London (Oct. 4). Pan American started daily service, New York to Paris (Oct. 26). First domestic jet passenger service. National Airlines inaugurated service between New York and Miami (Dec. 10). 1963 First female pilot to fly faster than sound. British pilot, Diana Barnato Walker, flew at a speed of 1,262 mph, flying a two-seat R.A.F. Lightning fighter. 1968 Prototype of world's first supersonic airliner. The Soviet-designed Tupolev Tu-144 made its first flight, Dec. 31. It first achieved supersonic speed on June 5, 1969. 1973 First female pilot of a major U.S.

scheduled airline. Emily H. Warner became employed by Frontier Airlines on Jan. 29 as second officer on a Boeing 737. 1976 First regularly scheduled commercial supersonic transport (SST) flights begin. Air France and British Airways inaugurated service (Jan. 21). Air France flew the Paris–Rio de Janeiro route; B.A., the London–Bahrain. Both airlines began SST service to Washington, D.C. (May 24). 1977 First successful human-powered aircraft. Paul MacCready, an aeronautical engineer from Pasadena, Calif., was awarded the Kremer Prize for creating the world's first successful human-powered aircraft. The Gossamer Condor was flown by Bryan Allen over the required 3-mile course on Aug. 23. 1978 First successful transatlantic balloon flight. Three Albuquerque, N.M., men, Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman, and Maxie Anderson, completed the crossing (Aug. 16.; landed, Aug. 17) in their helium-filled balloon, Double Eagle II. 1979 First man-powered aircraft to fly across the English Channel.

The Kremer Prize for the Channel crossing was won by Bryan Allen, who flew the Gossamer Albatross from Folkestone, England, to Cap Gris-Nez, France, in 2 hr., 55 min. (June 12). 1980 First successful balloon flight over the North Pole. Sidney Conn and his wife, Eleanor, in hot-air balloon Joy of Sound (April 11). First nonstop transcontinental balloon flight, and also record for longest overland voyage in a balloon. Maxie Anderson and his son completed four-day flight from Fort Baker, Calif., to Matane, Quebec, in their helium-filled balloon, Kitty Hawk (May 12). First long-distance solar-powered flight. Janice Brown, a 98-lb former teacher, flew a tiny experimental solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, 6 mi in 22 min. near Marana, Ariz. (Dec. 3). The craft was powered by a 2.75-horsepower engine. 1981 First solar-powered aircraft to fly across the English Channel. Stephen R.

Ptacek flew the 210-pound Solar Challenger at an average speed of 30 mph from Cormeilles-en-Vexin near Paris to the Royal Manston Air Force Base in southeast England in 5 hr., 30 min. (July 7). 1984 First solo transatlantic balloon flight. Joe W. Kittinger landed Sept. 18 near Savona, Italy, in his helium-filled balloon, Rosie O'Grady's Balloon of Peace, after a flight of 3,535 mi from Caribou, Maine. 1986 First nonstop flight around the world without refueling. From Edwards AFB, Calif., Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew in Voyager around the world (24,986.727 mi), returning to Edwards in 216 hr., 3 min., 44 sec. (Dec. 14–23). 1987 First transatlantic hot-air balloon flight. Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand flew 2,789.6 mi from Sugarloaf Mt., Maine, to Ireland in the hot-air balloon Virgin Atlantic Flyer (July 2–4).

1991 First transpacific hot-air balloon flight. Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand flew about 6,700 mi from Miyakonyo, Japan, to 150 mi west of Yellowknife, Canada (Jan. 15–17). 1993 First woman to copilot a commercial supersonic plane. Barbara Harmer, British Airways, flew as first officer on the Concorde from London to New York City (March 25). 1995 First solo transpacific balloon flight. Steve Fossett made a flight of more than 5,430 mi from Seoul, South Korea, to Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, in a helium-filled balloon. Also set record for distance (Feb. 18–21, 1995). 1998 First U.S. female combat pilot to bomb an enemy target. On Dec. 16, Lt. Kendra Williams, USN, bombed enemy targets over Iraq during Operation Desert Fox. 1999 First nonstop round-the-world balloon flight.

Bertrand Piccard (Switzerland) and Brian Jones (UK) flew 28,431 mi (45,755 km) from Chateaux d'Oex, Switzerland, to Dakhla, Egypt, in 19 days, 21 hr., and 55 min. (March 1–21). 2001 First solar-powered flight to shatter altitude records. NASA's solar-powered propeller-driven plane Helios reached an altitude of 96,500 ft during a flight over Hawaii, breaking not only the 80,200-foot record for propeller-driven aircraft, but the 85,068-foot mark for all nonrocket aircraft as well (Aug. 13–14). 2002 First solo nonstop round-the-world balloon flight. Steve Fossett (U.S.) flew from Northam, West Australia, to Lake Yamma Yamma, Queensland, Australia, landing after 14 days, 19 hrs.

He broke three balloon records along the way: fastest time around the world, measured by crossing 117° East longitude (13 days, 3 min.), longest distance flown solo (20,483.25 mi; 32,963.35 km), and longest time flown solo (355 hrs, 50 min.) (June 19–July 3). 2004 First non-stop 10,000-mile-plus passenger airline flight. Singapore Airlines launched a non-stop 181/2 hour, 10,335-mile flight on the long-range Airbus 340-500 between Singapore to Newark, New Jersey (June 28–29). (To date, the world's longest nonstop commercial flight took place on Nov. 10, 2005. A Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner flew from London to Hong Kong [13,422 miles] in 22 hrs, 43 min.) 2005 First nonstop solo flight around the world without refueling.

From Salina, Kansas, Steve Fossett flew the Virgin Atlantic Globalflyer 22,878 mi around the world, arriving back in Kansas 67 hrs later (Feb. 28–March 3). 2007 Youngest and first black pilot to fly solo around the world. From Miami Gardens, Florida, Barrington Irving flew a Columbia 400 plane named Inspiration around the world in 96 days, 150 hours (March 23-June 27). Crossing the channel: Pioneers who found new ways over the water - Telegraph Travel News Crossing the channel: Pioneers who found new ways over the water Jonathan Trappe, who became the first man to cross the English channel using a cluster of helium balloons, is the latest in a long list of pioneers to find new ways of travelling between Britain and France. Here are a few of the more original. Jonathan Trappe flies over the white cliffs of Dover as he crosses the English Channel flying a cluster balloon.

The adventurer, aged 37, strapped 54 industrial strength helium balloons to his gondola and crossed the 22-mile waterway to the continent Photo: NICK OBANK / BARCROFT MEDIA By Hunter Ruthven 5:39PM BST 28 May 2010 FIRST CROSSING BY BALLOON On the 7th January 1785 Jean-Pierre Blanchard and Dr John Jeffries made the first flight across the channel in a time of 2hrs 30mins. Blanchard, a French inventor, was considered to be a pioneer in aviation and ballooning. FIRST CROSSING BY SWIMMER: On the 25th August 1875 Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the channel without the use of artificial aids in a time of 21hrs 45mins. Covered in porpoise oil and enduring jellyfish stings, he actually swam just over 39 miles.

FIRST CROSSING BY PLANE: Supersonic skydiver 16 Mar 2012 On the 25th July 1909 Louis Bleriot became the first man to fly across the channel in a heavier-than-air craft in a time of 37 minutes. The French inventor and self-trained pilot flew his Bleriot XI craft across the channel and received a £1000 prize from a British newspaper. In his previous attempt, Bleriot had to abandon his attempt, and in doing so, made the first landing of an aircraft on the sea. FIRST CROSSING BY HOVERCRAFT On the 25th July 1959 Sir Sydney Christopher Cockerell became the first man to cross the channel on a hovercraft in a time of 2hrs 3mins. Sir Cokerall was the inventor of the hovercraft and developed the craft by experimenting with a hair-dryer and tin cans. His SR-N1 vessel was the ‘first practical hovercraft’ and was capable of carrying four men at a speed of 28mph.

FIRST CROSSING BY CAR On the 16th September 1965 two Amphicars became the first cars to cross the channel in 7hrs 20mins. One car was crewed by two Army Officers, Captains Mike Bailey REME and Captain Peter Tappenden RAOC. The other car was crewed by Tim Dill-Russell and Sgt Joe Minto RASC. FIRST CROSSING BY CORACLE In 1974 Bernard Thomas became the first man to cross the channel in a coracle in a time of 13hrs 30mins. The coracle is a small light-weight boat, traditionally used in Wales, originally made using willow rods and bark. The crossing was part publicity stunt to highlight the possibility that Mandan Indians of North Dakota could have copied the coracles of Wales. FIRST CROSSING BY HUMAN POWERED AIR-CRAFT On the 12th June 1979 American Bryan Allen became the first man to cross the channel in a human-powered air-craft in a time of 2hrs 49mins.

The pedal-powered craft had an average speed of 18mph and averaged an altitude of 1.5m FIRST CROSSING ON FOOT In May 1994 Daly Thompson became the first man to walk across the channel when he joined a group of around 50 charity fundraisers to make the crossing in the newly constructed channel tunnel. FIRST CROSSING BY PEDALO On the 22nd May 2002 Paul Tucker became the first man to cross the channel in a pedalo in a time of 14 hours. Not content with that effort, Mr Tucker quickly turned around and made the return journey to Folkestone. The former Army major was raising money for the Royal British Legion. FIRST CROSSING BY WINGSUIT On the 31st July 2003 Felix Baumgartner became the first man to cross the channel by Wing-suit in a time of only 6 mins. Baumgartner had to use an oxygen cylinder after jumping out of a plane at 30,000ft achieving a top speed of 250mph.

FIRST CROSSING BY BATHTUB On the 17th May 2007 Tim FitzHigham became the first man to row across the channel in a bathtub in a time of 9hrs 6mins. It was the second attempt that the comedian had made and in completing the attempt he raised £10,000 for Comic Relief FIRST CROSSING BY JET-PACK On the 26th September 2008 Yves Rossy became the first man to cross the channel by Jet-pack in a time of only 10mins. He achieved speeds of up to 186mph during the crossing. The Swiss daredevil, wearing his Kevlar wing suit, leapt out of a plane at 8,200ft and landed using his parachute when he arrived on the other side FIRST CROSSING BY WATERSKIS On the 12th March 2010 Christine Bleakley became the first person to water-ski across the channel in a time of just less than 1hr 40mins. Completing the endeavour for charity the BBC One Show presenter had not long taken up waterskiing and fell eight times on the crossing.

Bleriot's Flight Across the English Channel | WYSO Bleriot's Flight Across the English Channel A photo of the actual flight, Louis Bleriot crossing the English Channel. From the Special Collections and Archives at the Wright State University Libraries At the Shuttleworth Collection in the UK, this Bleriot IX is nearly identical to the aeroplane Louis Bleriot flew across the Channel. The temperamental Anzani three-cylinder motor. Dan Patterson The frail nature of the aeroplane is apparent in how translucent the fabric and structure are seen in the Shuttleworth example. On very calm days this earliest of all existing early aeroplanes still flies. Dan Patterson At The Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace near Paris, two examples of the main competitors to cross the Channel first. At the top a Bleriot IX, built and flown by Louis Bleriot. Dan Patterson The stone marker at the base of Dover Castle, the outline of Bleriot's craft traced onto the ground exactly where he came to earth.

Dan Patterson On this day in 1909, a man named Louis Bleriot, a French engineer, was the first to fly across the English Channel, 21 miles from Calais in France to Dover, England. Dayton photographer Dan Patterson is an aviation historian, and he's traveled the world to photograph significant aviation history sites. A few years ago he went to see the places where Bleriot took off and landed. The stone marker at Bleriot Plage near Calais on the coast of France. Credit Dan Patterson Just outside Calais in Bleriot Place, which means Bleriot Beach, there's a small stone monument in a residential neighborhood commemorating the events of July 25, 1909. Near this spot, Bleriot made a short test flight in the dark at 4:15 am. He was flying a tiny frail monoplane with a three cylinder Anzani motorcycle engine that had a tendency to explode if it overheated - or after about 30 minutes, whichever came first. The flight across the channel would take about 40 minutes. It was a calculated risk.

Bleriot was not the only person trying to cross the channel in late July 1909. The Daily Mail, a London newspaper, had a put up a thousand pound prize to the first person who could do it. To be official, the flight had to happen in daylight, and at 4:41 when the sun was officially over the horizon, Bleriot took off. He had no instruments. The weather was blustery and misty. Visibility was not good. A French destroyer was positioned half way across the channel to help guide him, but legend as it - he got lost. Bleriot cut his engine and came to Earth pretty hard, breaking his propeller and landing gear, and proving again that any landing you can walk away from is a good one. The bad weather worked to his advantage, though. A rain shower cooled his engine. He had his way to the English coast, spotted someone waving a flag to signal the landing spot near Dover Castle. Bleriot cut his engine and came to Earth pretty hard, breaking his propeller and landing gear, and proving again that any landing you can walk away from is a good one.

Today the open grassy field where Bleriot landed is overgrown with dense shrubs. But as you walk through the thicket, suddenly you find yourself in a wonderful clearing, and you can stand where history happened. The outline of his plane has been set down and memorialized in marble. Like many small airplanes that made history, you are surprised at how small it is. Bleriot won the prize money and became the next great aviator to become world famous in an instant, but those were the days when flying records were made and broken quickly. Ten weeks later, our own Wilbur Wright flew up the Hudson River in New York more than 40 miles over open water, with a canoe attached to the undercarriage - just in case. That canoe, by the way? You can see it at Carillon Park. Tags: BBC - Kent - First to fly across the Channel First to fly across the Channel By Jo Pattison BBC Kent Bleriot landed in North Fall Meadow in Dover At dawn on 25th of July 1909, Louis Bleriot took off from the Sangatte cliffs near Calais and flew into the murky skies over the English Channel.

In his Bleriot XI, a small 25-horsepower aircraft of his own design, he headed north in the rough direction of England. Without instruments or a compass, Bleriot could see neither France nor England for part of the journey. He eventually landed in North Fall Meadow behind Dover Castle. The journey took Louis Bleriot 36 minutes and 30 seconds Bleriot would not have been able to swim if he had crashed over The Channel. He was walking on crutches, having burned his leg badly on the engine of the plane earlier that week. Flying at just over 40 miles at an hour at an altitude of approximately 250 feet, the perilous journey took him 36 minutes and 30 seconds and earned him a £1000 cash prize courtesy of the Daily Mail, as well as the honour of becoming the first man to fly across the English Channel and instant worldwide fame. Born in Cambrai, France on 1st July 1872, Louis Bleriot had an early obsession with aviation which would last his lifetime. He was an inventor and engineer with one of his creations, a car headlamp, amassing a small fortune for him.

He used this money to experiment with aircraft design and after an unsuccessful partnership with Gabriel Voisin he went out on his own and created the world's first successful monoplane, the Bleriot V. This was to be a predecessor to the Bleriot XI which took him on that momentous flight on 25th July 1909. The competition Bleriot is now a household name, but at the time he was the underdog. No one expected the nearly bankrupt headlamp manufacturer to take the prize when his competitors were extremely glamorous and wealthy. Hubert Latham was Louis Bleriot's main rival The favourite was another Frenchman with the very English name of Hubert Latham. The 26 year-old Oxford-educated playboy was rich, handsome and stylish. He was a big game hunter, a motor boat racer and balloonist - and had already crossed the Channel in a balloon with his cousin Jacques Faure in 1905. He first attempted in an aeroplane on 19th July 1909, but the engine on his Antoinette IV failed half-way across and Latham performed the first ever landing of an aeroplane on water.

However, he was keen to have another go. The Antoinette (designed by engineer Léon Levavasseur and businessman Jules Gastambide) was repaired and readied for another attempt, but on the morning of 25th July as Bleriot was starting his machine and taxiing across the fields of Les Barraques, Latham was asleep in his tent a few miles West in Sangatte. He had told his valet only to wake him if the weather looked fine enough for a cross-channel attempt, but as it didn't look too promising, on the second most important day in aviation history, one of the favourites stayed tucked-up in bed. Latham crashes his aircraft into the Channel Not unreasonably, Latham was disappointed with the fact that Bleriot had succeeded, but made another attempt a two days later - again engine failure condemned the hapless Hubert to the murky waters of La Manche. Mystery surrounds the rest of his life. Anonymous reports suggest he was shot in the head while game-hunting in Chad in 1912, although his death certificate suggests he was killed by a wounded buffalo!

There is a statue of Latham a few miles West of Calais on a hill named after him - Mont Latham. Although there is a memorial to Bleriot and the town of Les Barraques has been renamed Bleriot Plage, there is no statue of the man himself. Bookmark with:

Question: Who was the first man to fly across the channel?
Answer: Louis Bleriot